The Empire Is Dead, Long Live the Empire! Values and Human Interactions 90 Years after the Fall of the Habsburg Empire

Do empires affect human values and behavior long after their demise? We hypothesize that the Habsburg Empire, which was characterized by a localized and well-respected administration, increased people’s trust in local state services. In several Eastern European countries, communities on both sides of the long-gone Habsburg border have been sharing common formal institutions for a century now. In border specifications that restrict identification to individuals living inside a restricted band around the former border, we find that historical Habsburg affiliation increases current trust and reduces corruption in local public services. There is some indication that the Habsburg effect is also transmitted in person-state interactions more generally, but not in interpersonal interactions.